Honeydripper

Not one of the very best films by John Sayles (certainly not in the same class as Lone Star or Matewan, which probably top the list) but a perfectly amiable, pleasant couple of hours. The one thing you are always guaranteed in a Sayles film is top class performances and he gets the best out of his mostly coloured cast, whether they are speaking dialogue or playing/singing the music that drives it all. The plot is predictable but it doesn't really matter when the soundtrack's this good. Even what could have been a heavy-handed 50s Deep South race-relations background is sketched in without fuss. The sheriff is as venal as they come - and knows it - but he's not the usual stereotype. Sayles knows better than to make it as schematic as that. It's a crying shame that he finds it so difficult to raise the money to make his films. We need all the intelligent movies we can get.